In many industrial applications, such as the manufacture of foods and beverages, hard surfaces commonly become contaminated with carbohydrate, proteinaceous, hardness soils and other soils. Such soils can arise from the manufacture of both liquid and solid foodstuffs. Carbohydrate soils, such as cellulosics, monosaccharides, disaccharides, oligosaccharides, starches, gums and other complex materials, when dried, can form tough, hard to remove soils, particularly when combined with other soil components such as proteins, enzymes, fats, oils and others. The removal of such carbohydrate soils can be a significant problem. Similarly, other materials such as proteins, enzymes, fats and oils can also form hard to remove soil and residues.
Clean-in-place cleaning techniques are a specific cleaning regimen adapted for removing soils from the internal components of tanks, lines, pumps and other process equipment used for processing typically liquid product streams such as beverages, milk, juices, etc. Clean-in-place cleaning involves passing cleaning solutions through the system without dismantling any system components. The minimum clean-in-place technique involves passing the cleaning solution through the equipment and then resuming normal processing. Any product contaminated by cleaner residue can be discarded. Often clean-in-place methods involve a first rinse, the application of the cleaning solutions, a second rinse with potable water followed by resumed operations. The process can also include any other contacting step in which a rinse, acidic or basic functional fluid, solvent or other cleaning component such as hot water, cold water, etc. can be contacted with the equipment at any step during the process. Often the final potable water rinse is skipped in order to prevent contamination of the equipment with bacteria following the cleaning sanitizing step.
Clean-in-place processing requires a complete shutdown of the equipment being cleaned, which results in lost production time. Many times, the equipment is not thoroughly cleaned, due to the large downtime needed. What is needed is an improved method for cleaning this equipment, using the clean-in-place process, which uses less time to thoroughly remove the soils.